


Stuck

by soullistrations



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, POV Outsider, set between seasons 1 and 2, sort of--Lucas' parents are concerned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22326463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soullistrations/pseuds/soullistrations
Summary: Franklin and Suzette Sinclair knew that Chief Hopper was lying when he brought their son home and told them some story about a bear attack at the middle school. They knew this because Lucas was a terrible liar, and nodded a little too emphatically the entire time Chief Hopper was talking. It was also impossible to miss the government agents swarming all over the Wheeler front lawn that afternoon. Even after Hopper left, the light of their flashlights (looking for what, exactly?) bounced periodically through their living room window.But even if they hadn’t known there was something more going on, there was still the fact that that night, after they finally got to bed, Lucas crawled into bed with them.He hadn’t done this since he was three and terrified of thunderstorms, but even so, Frank and Suzette didn’t say anything--they just scooted over to make room between them. Suzette reached across Lucas’ body to take Frank’s hand, and the two stayed like that a long time, listening to their son’s breathing even out.Or: Lucas needs help processing after season 1.
Relationships: Lucas Sinclair & Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Sinclair/Mrs. Sinclair
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Stuck

Franklin and Suzette Sinclair knew that Chief Hopper was lying when he brought their son home and told them some story about a bear attack at the middle school. They knew this because Lucas was a terrible liar, and nodded a little too emphatically the entire time Chief Hopper was talking. It was also impossible to miss the government agents swarming all over the Wheeler front lawn that afternoon. Even after Hopper left, the light of their flashlights (looking for what, exactly?) bounced periodically through their living room window.

But even if they hadn’t known there was something more going on, there was still the fact that that night, after they finally got to bed, Lucas crawled into bed with them.

He hadn’t done this since he was three and terrified of thunderstorms, but even so, Frank and Suzette didn’t say anything--they just scooted over to make room between them. Suzette reached across Lucas’ body to take Franklin’s hand, and the two stayed like that a long time, listening to their son’s breathing even out.

It happened again the next night. And the next.

They decided Lucas would talk when he was ready. They argued about it first, though--Franklin mentioned that Lucas’ demeanor reminded him of some of his war buddies after ‘Nam, and Suzette had to sit down and breathe for a minute because her son was twelve years old, he wasn’t a damn soldier.

After about a week, though, Lucas started to sleep through the night in his own room, and things gradually started to go back to normal. Lucas argued with Erica, he laughed with his friends, he helped his dad with the yard work, and if he sometimes seemed sad, well, so did a lot of people in town after that awful week in November.

This continued until one rainy night in December. The Sinclair family was eating dinner when lightning hit a nearby power line. In the dining room, the lights flickered once, twice, and then came back on. Frank made a comment about checking the breakers and was about to stand when Erica waved her hand in front of her brother’s face and quipped, “Earth to Lucas.”

Lucas was staring at the light, eyes blown wide, one hand clenched around his fork and the other stuffed in his jacket pocket. Suzette reached over and touched Lucas’ shoulder, and he flinched. “May I please be excused?” he asked.

Suzette nodded, eyes wide and questioning.

Lucas stood, carefully stacked his silverware on top of his plate, and went to the kitchen to clean everything off. Suzette turned to watch him go, when there was suddenly a BANG BANG BANG as something thudded against the front door. Erica jumped, and in the kitchen, Lucas’ dishes clattered on the counter as he whipped around, pulled his wrist rocket out of his pocket, and aimed it at the door.

Suzette’s eyes met Frank’s, and they both moved at the same time. 

“Come to the kitchen, Erica,” Suzette said, taking Erica’s hand. Erica looked worriedly from her mom to Lucas and rushed to her brother, spooked by the sudden change in everyone’s demeanor.

Frank stood up to get the door. “Dad, don’t!” Lucas yelled over the banging. Franklin held up his hands and turned to Lucas. “I’m going to see who’s at the door.”

Lucas stepped forward-- “Dad--” but then a voice called from outside. “LUCAS! LUCAS, ARE YOU OKAY?” Lucas visibly sagged, and dropped his wrist rocket to his side. “It’s Mike.”

Frank opened the door, and a soaking wet Mike Wheeler tumbled into the entryway. “Is everyone okay? I tried the Supercomm, but you didn’t pick up and I thought--”

“We’re fine, Mike.” Frank reached down to help the boy up. Lucas rushed over to the entryway and the two boys immediately started talking over each other.

“Why didn’t you pick up? I thought we agreed--”

“--I was about to call, I was eating dinner. Did you comm the others?”

“No, my signal’s shit ‘cause of the storm. We have to go, we have to see if they’re--”

“--Mike, it’s pouring out--”

“We have to go, we have to go NOW, we can’t--”

“Why don’t you call first?” Suzette cut in. Both boys turned to stare at her, clearly startled to remember there were still other people in the room. “We have a phone in the hall,” she continued, pointing.

Lucas nodded, gave his mother a grateful smile, and pushed Mike down the hall.

Erica ran after them, and grabbed Lucas’ sleeve. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “Why are you acting crazy?”

Lucas looked at her, and at his parents. “I think--” he said, “I think it’s just the storm. Everyone’s going to be fine.”

They made the phone calls. Everyone was indeed fine, nothing new to report. For some reason, Mike seemed almost--disappointed--by this lack of news.

Frank took Mike home, and Karen Wheeler alternated between tearfully thanking Frank and promising Mike that he would be grounded until graduation if he ran off like that again. When Frank got back home, Lucas and Erica were washing the dishes, and Suzette was grimly watching her children as she wiped down the table.

That night, Suzette and Franklin left a space between them when they went to bed. Lucas never filled it.

But in the morning, when Suzette went into Erica’s room to wake her up, Lucas was curled on the floor in front of Erica’s bed, his wrist rocket clenched in one hand and his pillow in the other.

Suzette stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her children sleep, and then she knelt down to wake up Lucas. Lucas woke with a start as soon as Suzette got close to him, and woke Erica in the process, who was  _ very _ unhappy to find her brother had invaded her room while she slept (especially since he was always so insistent that she stay out of his room). After a bit of chaos and bickering, Lucas grumpily made his way back to his own room to get ready for school. Suzette called after him to strip his bed so they could wash the sheets, but Lucas clearly didn’t hear her, because when she got done with her shift at the hospital and came home to toss all the sheets in the washer, she found Lucas’ bed fully intact. 

Annoyed, she picked up his pillow to take off the pillowcase, only for something to drop out of the pillowcase and onto the bed. When she looked down at it, her blood ran hot.

It was Frank’s Army knife from Vietnam, and Lucas _ knew _ it was not a toy to be played with. They’d had this talk before, and Lucas had always–an image flashed into Suzette’s mind, of Lucas, brow furrowed even in sleep, curled on the floor between his sister’s bed and the door. One hand clutching his wrist rocket, the other…tucked into his pillow.

Suzette called her husband at work. When he picked up, she stood in the hall for a moment, mouth open, eyes hot, unsure of what to say. Finally, she told him, “We need to talk to talk to our son.”

It was a Friday, and Erica and Lucas were both hanging out with friends that afternoon, which meant that when Frank got home, it was just his wife and the Army knife waiting to greet him at the front door. They didn’t argue this time. This time, Suzette was a bit more tearful, Frank a bit more acquiescent. When they were done talking, Suzette went to the hall phone and called the Wheeler household to ask Karen to send Lucas home, and Frank took the knife and sat out on the front porch.

A minute or so after Suzette hung up, Frank saw the door to the Wheeler house slam open, and Lucas walked outside, wiping his arm across his eyes before trudging the half a block back home. Watching his son, Frank felt a sudden surge of anger toward Chief Hopper. What happened to their children that night? Why did the chief of police lie to them about it? Why wouldn’t Lucas talk about it?

When Lucas reached the porch and saw his dad, he paused, unsure. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Frank patted the porch step next to him and Lucas sat down. Lucas’ eyes were red-rimmed, and he seemed–-small–-in a way that their son rarely did. He had always been so self-possessed, full of energy and certainty, but now, he hunched next to his father, eyes flicking over to the Army knife before he wearily stared at his lap. Making a decision, Frank put the knife aside and asked Lucas what happened while he was at Mike’s. 

Lucas winced a bit. “Mike and me--got in another fight. I...Will told us some stuff about his week in the--in the woods and we just--we fought about some stuff.”

“What stuff?” Frank asked. Lucas looked around at the empty street in front of them for a long moment, as if checking for something. Then, he eyed the knife sitting on the porch. “When you were in ‘Nam,” he said slowly, “did you ever see anyone die?”

It’s hard to put into words, what Frank felt in that moment. There was a moment of confusion as he stared at his son, and then a moment of terrible comprehension. Lucas kept his eyes firmly on the knife. “I did,” Frank finally said.

“What was it like?”

“What do you think it was like?” He asked the question softly, but he saw Lucas’ shoulders’ tighten. 

“I don’t–-bad? Like you couldn’t--like nothing you did…” Lucas trailed off. “I’m sorry, Dad. I know you don’t like to talk about it.”

“I think you’re old enough to hear about it now,” Frank said, then took a deep breath, steeling himself. “Seeing someone die-–no matter who it is-–it changes you. There’s a Before, and an After, to these things. There are many things that divide your life into Befores and Afters, and most of the time, you don’t realize what those things are until after the fact. But, seeing someone die, especially a friend-–” Frank paused. “It’s different for everyone. Some guys I know, they’d keep it buttoned down. They got back stateside and just picked up like nothing happened. Others…it was like they got stuck. Like all the awful stuff they saw and did just kept banging around and breaking stuff in their head. Like the what ifs and regrets and memories just kept eating them away until there was nothing left. I lost some friends during the war, but I lost more that way.”

“What about you?”

“I didn’t know what to do with myself. Got home, felt like I stared at a wall for a month until  _ my _ mama got me off of my butt. She helped me put together my application for college, got me moving again. Hey,” Frank paused with a chuckle, “next time we go see your grandma, you be sure to thank her, because without her, I wouldn’t have gone to IU and met your mother, and you wouldn’t exist.”

Lucas smiled a bit at that, but then he looked down the street at the Wheeler house, and his expression fell again. “And what about-–what about your friends who got stuck? Did any of them get better?”

“Some of them. Some of them needed more than I could give them. Even so, if you’ve got a friend who’s in pain, all you can do is be there for them.”

Lucas nodded, still staring at the Wheeler house.

“And Lucas.” Frank wrapped an arm around Lucas’ shoulders and pulled him in close, and Lucas sagged in his father’s arms. “If you’re in pain, or scared, or stuck, you come talk to your mom and me. Will coming back to life was some sort of miracle, but I know it put the Byers through hell in the process, and it wasn’t easy on you or your friends.” At this, Frank felt more than heard Lucas breathe wetly against his shoulder. “Will’s not going to be the same. Nothing is. It’s not for you to try to keep everything the same, or to forget it ever happened. You remember, and you keep moving forward. And you hold us close the same way we hold you close, you hear?” Lucas nodded and then, with a sob, buried his face in his father’s shoulder.

They sat there for a long time, Frank holding his son close as he cried. After a while, Lucas’ breathing evened out, and he pulled away from his father with a deep, shaky breath. At this, Frank picked up the Army knife once more. “One more thing–I need you to make me a promise, son.” Lucas looked up, met his father’s eyes. “The next time you want to borrow my Army knife, ask first so I can show you how it works. I don’t want you hurting yourself. Promise me?” 

Lucas nodded slowly. "Yessir," he said, not breaking eye contact.

“ _ And _ you’re on dish duty all next week,” Frank finished, standing up and suppressing a smile at Lucas’ answering groan. “Now, go call Suzy McDonald’s house and tell your sister it’s time to come home. It’s getting dark.”

They made their way back into the house, and Frank squeezed Lucas’ shoulder one more time before they split, Lucas going to the hall phone and Frank to the kitchen. Suzette was faced away as he entered, bent over a salad, but she wasn’t moving except for a slight shake in her shoulders. Frank walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Suzette closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, silent tears rolling down her face. Frank kissed one. A smile involuntarily flitted across her face. “Our son’s going to be alright,” he said. “We’re going to be alright.”

**Author's Note:**

> I started this a year and a half ago, but abandoned it halfway through. Then, I watched an incredible fanvid online last night (it's about Lucas and Erica's Uncle Jack, and it's INCREDIBLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WOLk16a66M) and just knew I had to come back and finish this. It’s far from polished, but I know if I don’t publish it now, I never will. I just...wanted to write about Lucas’ parents, about the impact that having a healthy relationship between and with your parents can have. Lucas is really the only one of the boys with a good father figure, so I also wanted to explore that just a bit. A couple of things that were alluded to in the fic:  
> -The ending is not meant to be an 'everything is fine now.' It's...a step. A good step, but just a step.  
> -The fight was about El. Will told them about the Upside Down, and Lucas said that, if that’s where she was, she was definitely dead by now. Not that he wants her to be dead--it makes his stomach hurt just to think about it--but they couldn’t keep pretending she was alive when she wasn’t.  
> -Frank taught Lucas how to use his wrist rocket. At the time Lucas thought it was really cool, that he got to have a Combat Weapon so he could kill bad guys like his dad. Sure, his dad didn’t like to talk about it, but it was still really cool, right? It’s not till Lucas is standing between the Demogorgon and his friends, brandishing his wrist rocket and a bunch of rocks, that he realizes just how not cool it is. He feels the terror in his belly and he knows, he just knows he’s about to die and so are his friends, and he can’t protect them and--  
> -Lucas watches his dad in the days after that, and he knows why his dad doesn’t want to talk about it.  
> I’ve gotten a bit off-topic, sorry. If you want to yell about Lucas Sinclair (or anything else) you can find me at soullistrations on tumblr.


End file.
